Simple Ways to Make Your Business Writing Better

This blog is a game-changer, it’s going to disrupt the online content world and create a new, unheard of change in this tired, bloated industry… Actually, my writing is nothing like that, but how many times have you heard that with the word “blog” swapped for the word “company”.

The kind of writing you find on company websites is incredibly clichéd and most of the time boring. This is true for internally facing and externally facing writing. As someone with a blog, I am interested in being a better writer. I am not a business writer by trade, but improvements to any kind of writing are helpful to anyone. You might feel you don’t need to write anything in your job, but you have probably written an email or (for anyone pre-gen-Z) a letter. So, you might as well be better at that, right? Besides, words are what connect people. You can’t get your ideas across to someone without telling them about them, unless you’re a telepath or very talented mime.

Write to Someone Specific

Hey you, Reader, yeah, you! Are you paying attention right now? Okay, good. The first tip is to write to a someone, not to yourself. You know what you mean when you say something, that doesn’t mean a reader does. Know what I’m saying?

The words I say come across more clearly and sound more conversation-ey if I talk directly to you (I hope). Would you prefer that I describe to you how “this makes the writing read more like a personal chat?” or, would you prefer “that the writer of this blog post explain that there is a great benefit to be had, if one were to address a specific audience member, rather than just think aloud?”

Write Exactly as Much as You Need to. No More.

Write Out an Acronym the First Time You Use it

You get to a meeting, everyone is discussing the KPIs, HGTs and GMOs. What. The. Hell? I know maybe one of those acronyms, and I wrote this post! You start to feel stupid, out of the loop. Why does everyone know these words and throw them around so casually? Why don’t I know them? I’d say the fault is theirs, not yours. There’s no need to purposefully, exclude people, from certain information. You’re in this meeting to discuss something, learn something or otherwise communicate ideas to each other. No need to drown someone in codes they don’t understand.

Whilst the example I gave was more silly, there are times in my job as a BSA (Business Systems Analyst) where it can be really helpful to have someone explain the acronym about to be used. I am sure it’s the same for your job. I didn’t even realise SQL was pronounce see-quel when I started…

If you are the one writing in order to share information, make sure everyone knows the acronyms by explaining it the first time you use it, SWIM (See What I Mean?). This tip works for technical jargon too.

Passive Voice and qualifiers are really weak!

I sound stronger when I explain to you that I wrote this post. That I thought up how I was going to say it and then said it, exactly like that. I sat there in my leather armchair, smoking a pipe, surrounded by leather-bound books, pondering my next sentence. I didn’t actually, but it sounds better than:

“The leather chair was sat in by the author, the pipe was smoked by the author. The books surrounded him and thoughts were had by him”

Another thing that really doesn’t sound very good is a qualifier such as “really” or “very”. Just say it was “amazing” , not “really good” , or say that it was “crap” , rather than “very bad” .

Make It Easy to Scan the Page

How many times have you been reading a lengthy document thinking “I know the point I liked was here somewhere, in this never-ending wall of text. It was at that line, no. Next line. Ah, here’s the bit about the dolphin trainer, so it must be coming up soon, hmmm. Still can’t find it.”?

This is exactly the experience you have had before, dolphin trainer and all. This is what it’s like to try to find a specific point in a solid block of text. Instead, use headings, bullet-points, and the like to make the page easier to scan. People hate reading more than they have to, to find the bit they like. So give them signposts to follow, your readers will silently thank you.

The original article that inspired this post is from Fast Company, I didn’t take down all their points, just the ones that resonated with me the most. Please feel free to read the original article in full, here.

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Published by webbswideworld

Hi Everyone,
Welcome to the Webb's Wide World!!
I read a lot of self-help books, business books and articles. I also watch informative YouTube Videos and listen to Podcasts. I couldn't remember everything I viewed, listened to and read. This was a problem for me, so I started taking notes.
I have spoken to lots of people who claim they don't have time to read, watch videos and all the other ways I like to learn new things. Since I was learning all these things anyway and keeping notes, I decided some people might like to see what I've learnt. So on this blog I hope to summarise information I found interesting in simple language. I find simple language the easiest to read and therefore the easiest to learn from, so you will never read a post where I have vomited a vulgar cacophonous plethora of obnoxiously grandiose words. I just write simply.
Hopefully you learn something useful or interesting, if not I will do my best to change that.
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